Carlito's Way poster

Carlito's Way (1993)

Film · 2h 24m · Rated R

Crime, Drama, Thriller

An ex-con's measured return to the gritty New York underworld becomes a melancholy, suspenseful, and pulpy struggle.

A late-night trip at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Prime Video and Starz.

Carlito's Way parents guide

Nothing past what an R promises: moderate sex and nudity, and strong violence.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
A couple
One or two sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Strong violence
Violence is frequent or intense.
Sex and nudity
Moderate
Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.
Language
Strong
Frequent strong profanity or slurs.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Carlito's Way scary?
No. Carlito's Way is not a scary watch.
How gory is Carlito's Way?
Light gore and strong violence.
What is Carlito's Way rated, and is it OK for kids?
No. It is rated R, with moderate sex and nudity, strong violence, and frequent strong language.

What is Carlito's Way about?

Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

No. Brace yourself.

Cast and crew

Directed byBrian De Palma
StarringAl Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo, Ingrid Rogers, Luis Guzmán

More like Carlito's Way

Carlito's Way is on our Courtroom, Mob and gangsters, Noir and neo-noir, Set in New York and 1990s lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Melancholy and Late night.

Five more like Carlito's Way

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.